They’ve done it again. Just when you think you’re on top of your Facebook page, they go and make significant changes. In this blog post I’m going to take you through the most important changes and how you can take advantage of them for your business.

If you logged on to your Facebook account recently and visited your page you may have seen this message:

This time around I think you’ll like the changes they’re making as they’re giving us page owners much more flexibility and control. The new look pages will act more like your new look profile so at least you can assume once you’ve figured out the new layout on one it also applies to the other.

These changes go into effect on March 10th so you have plenty of time to make a few key changes, or you can switch over now. I believe there’ll be a more compelling look and feel to Pages as a result of these updates, I especially like the images displayed across the top to draw in fans by being more visually appealing.

The Top 10 Changes to Your Facebook Page

There’s no need to worry about not understanding the key changes as I’ve pulled together the pick of the key changes below. I also tell you how that relates to you making the most of the new Facebook page updates.

1-Photo strip instead of tabs above the Wall

The most recent photos that you post to your Wall or photos that you tag your Page in will appear here and add a dynamic, colorful element to draw your fans in and cause further interaction. This area will not include any photos posted by your fans.

Hot Tip: Click on X to get rid of the less desirable photos you currently have and instead post new images or graphics that show off your products or services plus a call to action like `Visit Our Online Store for Top Deals’.

2-Profile picture reduced

This is pretty important. I advise people to make the most of the full image proportions for their page so if you’re finally going to create a great image note it’s gone from 200 x 600 pixels to 180 x 540 pixels.

Hot Tip: Head to Fiverr.com and get one designed for $5 that includes your Name, logo, tagline or call to action plus your website as a minimum.

3-Tabs have moved

No longer at the top they’re now on the left hand side panel below your Page image. They’re also in a list format (maximum of 6 above the fold). Not so sure I love this as I believe they were more obvious where they were.

Hot Tip: Take advantage of the the fact that the new left nav placement of tabs allow for longer tab names.

4-Blurb boxhas moved

That little bit of text saying what you do, why that matters and who cares as moved to the info tab. It’s a pity they couldn’t keep this on display there and repeat it into the info tab

Hot Tip: Take this time to update your information page and ensure it’s totally filled out with your brand message and all the ways people can contact you and visit your site, know your opening times and location.

5-Pages can Like other Pages

Not just favorite them, which is a great feature for giving credit to pages you interact with. As you can see pages are becoming more like individuals – that means the ability to give them more personality!

Hot Tip: Search on 10 pages that are most relevant to your business, favorite them and then go and post a lovely message on their walls – as a Facebook page

6-Visible featured pages and admins

Now you can see your page admins available when viewing your page with no need to go into the edit mode. Much quicker to take action and select people to help you run your business page.

Hot Tip: Check whether you have any past admins of your page that no longer need access and remove them. Simplify.

7- News feed of updates from Liked Pages

Previously you would see just updates from your friends unless you used an social media management application like Nutshell which shows you your interactions on Facebook with people you listed and pages you had favorited.

Hot Tip: Now you can be assured that each time you post on your page it will appear in your fans newsfeed and give you more opportunity to draw them back for more interaction. So make sure you post questions, tips, links to interesting articles or promotions to ensure they come visit.

8-Choice for top Wall posts

You now have two Wall filters where you can choose between “Everyone” and the page posts only. You used to be able to show all posts, but this takes it a step further by showing the most interesting stories first. Plus as an admin you have additional filters for viewing these posts on your page.

Hot Tips: Encourage your top fans (clients and customers) to post on your wall more so that you can display their messages and make them feel more special. After all they are!

9-Email notifications when users post or comment

While this may seem like an invasion on your email inbox it’s often easy to lose track of comments made on your wall by fans. This way you’re alerted to them and can react in a timely fashion. You can also keep these emails as a record of who’s interacted and thank those fans later.

Hot Tip: I’d suggest setting up a filter through your email clients that these emails are filed under that bypasses your inbox. Then make sure to check in on it a few times a day and respond.

10-Ability to interact on Facebook as your Page

You and your page admins now have the flexibility to interact with the other areas of Facebook as a page. So you can post as yourself or as your page where relevant. This also means you’ll get notifications when fans interact with your page or posts, see activity from the pages you like in your news feed, like other pages and feature them on your page.

Hot Tip: Make sure you leave comments as your page alias on other influential pages relevant to your business to attract people back to become likes of your fans.

This last one is also great if you own several pages or manage clients pages that would be useful to co-promote – get creative with your postings where you think it will be beneficial.

Extra Bonus Tip

I was initially concerned about the importance of the landing tab with these new changes so reached out to the VP of marketing at Involver. Among other things Involver have a cool suite of highly useful Facebook applications to enrich your page. Jascha replied:

Even better huh. This means you can track and control the success of your Facebook ads to drive people to your page and which landing tabs are more effective at converting them into ‘Likes’.

Important: You can preview the new layout but once you upgrade, there is no way to revert back to the old design. I’ve converted over so come and see how it looks.